500MB of free online storage that can be private, shared or public.
This has been coming for a little while, and then when it arrived, it was initially only for users in the US. But now, it has been activated for customers in the UK. And this has some really useful applications in education. SkyDrive gives users 500MB of free online file storage - password protected by their Windows Live ID. And they can be stored in private, shared or public folders - allowing you to decide who has access to each folder.
What could you do with it? Well, things like...
Some of the features added to this Beta version are:
Sign up for your personal SkyDrive here
Great if you need to store 500mb of data. It would make sense for schools to get there students to have there own SkyDrive. It would save on school storage.
Students can also share with others.
Is this community Learning Gateway ?
It would save on storage costs but would there be any bandwith issues if hundreds of our pupils tried to access their files at once?
How would schools police what is in these folders? Our network management software would not work with a Skydrive.
I do like the idea of being able to get rid of memory sticks. How easy is it to download the files onto a PC or storage device to allow offline working?
Quick answers:
Bandwidth Issues: It is going to depend on your broadband connection speed, rather than at the server end (because a few hundred pupils at one time would be drop in the ocean of the total user base)
Policing the folders: I think that this is a philosophical question, that relates to a chosen approach to "control". How is it different to policing memory sticks?
Downloading: Easy answer - try it and see!